


It's Nice To See You

by Not Valentine (PangaeaWritesLotsOfShit)



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Atem Laughs A Lot, Cooking, Explicit Kitchen Descriptions, Hey This Is Still A WIP Don't Let AO3 Fool You, I Bite Off More Than I Can Chew: The Trilogy, M/M, Maybe He Just Has Bad Humor, The Pride Is Mostly In The Background, This Is About Yugi And His (My) Love For Cooking, You'll Probably Roll Your Eyes, Yugi And Atem Make Really Silly Jokes, Yugi Geeks Out A Little
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:15:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27808966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PangaeaWritesLotsOfShit/pseuds/Not%20Valentine
Summary: To celebrate Atem's return from the dead and Battle City's anniversary, Yugi decides to host a dinner party for his friends and everyone involved.
Relationships: Kaiba Seto/Yami Yuugi | Atem
Comments: 5
Kudos: 6
Collections: Yu-Gi-Oh! It's Time to G-G-G-Gift! [Mini-Exchange]





	It's Nice To See You

**Author's Note:**

  * For [bobtailsquid](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bobtailsquid/gifts).



> So. This was originally supposed to be a one shot (you'll probably notice from the flow when I post the next chapter), but I panicked because I wasn't done and just wanted to put _something_ out there. I know someone's probably pinch hitting but I really really want to finish this, event or not. Ask my 20-something recipe tabs and cookbook consultation how I feel about writing about cooking.
> 
> I originally wanted to do all three prompts as well (but didn't for rather obvious reasons), so there's a chance I'll just tack them on here as extra chapters after the cooking is done. (They'll still be their own stories though.)

The sound of the doorbell rang through the house just as Yugi finished up packing. “Coming!” He called downstairs, throwing on a jacket and grabbing his keys and backpack. He wasn’t surprised when he opened the door and came face to face with an expressionless man wearing a suit and sunglasses. He simply gave him a nod and let him lead him to the fancy car waiting, opening the backdoor to let Yugi get in. Yugi awkwardly scooted inside only to find a surprise waiting for him. “Atem!” His face broke out in a huge smile and he hugged the pharaoh. “I didn’t think you’d come pick me up.”

Atem laughed. “I know how it is sitting alone in a fancy car and thought you’d appreciate some company.” Yugi most certainly did. “Seto’s busy, as usual, so it’s just me.”

“I don’t mind.” Yugi still didn’t know how to handle Kaiba sometimes. In a way, he was glad he hadn’t come along with Atem. “And we don’t spend as much time together as we used to, so it’s nice to be just the two of us.”

That made Atem laugh again. It was refreshing to hear him laugh. It was refreshing to see him be so himself. “I think spending as much time together as we used to when we shared a body would be a bit weird now.”

Yugi let the thought pass and agreed. “Okay maybe not always, but I would like to see you more often. Kaiba can’t monopolize you.”

“Well he most certainly would like to.” Atem’s eyes twinkled with mischief. “He’s a greedy man.”

“Oh my god.” Yugi said with fake shock. “You’re enabling him!” Atem stared at him for a good two seconds before he broke out in a fit of laughter. Yugi soon joined in. They were still giggling when the car stopped and the sunglasses man opened the car door for them. Yugi did his best to calm the little giggles coming out of his mouth as he crawled out the car, shortly followed by Atem. They stood there for a brief moment, just taking deep breaths to calm down. “I missed you.” Yugi finally said. 

Atem cocked his head. “We saw each other last week?”

“Yeah, but still. Ever since you’re back I could barely see you. I know Kaiba has to monitor you to make sure your body is stable, but there’s so much I wanted to do together now that you have your own body.”

“Partner…” Atem gave Yugi a hug. “We have all the time in the world now. We can still do the things you wanted to do.”

“Right.” Atem let go and fished a keyring with only two keys out of an almost unnoticeable pocket of his baggy pants. He unlocked the front door of the mansion as mister sunglasses parked the car. “Kaiba gave you keys?”

“Yeah. He said it was more practical this way, but I think we both know that’s just an excuse.” Atem held the door open and bowed mockingly as he gestured Yugi in.

“What is he, a tsundere?” Yugi had to grin as he entered. It was nice to see Atem just behaving sillily. Back when they shared a body it had just been tense 24/7 with almost no time to breath.

“A tsun what?” Atem furrowed his brows as he closed the door after Yugi. Yugi remembered he probably didn’t know the term.

“Someone who hides actions of affection by pretending not to care. It’s a bit hard to explain.”

“Hmmm.” Atem tapped his chin a few times, trying to decide if Kaiba qualified as a tsundere. “No, I don’t think he’s that tsun thing. Anyways.” He clapped his hands together, changing the subject. “Do you want a tour first or do you want to go straight to the kitchen after I show you your bedroom?”

Yugi pondered for a little. “I don’t think I’ll get lost here. It’s not like I’ll do much outside of the kitchen. Let’s skip the tour.”

“Oh good.” Atem looked relieved. “Because I’m pretty sure I still don’t know every room here. But I know the guest rooms. Let me show you yours.” Atem led Yugi up a set of stairs and down a long hall, where he turned left and stopped after three doors. “That one. If you need me, Seto’s- my room is at the opposite end of the hall, the last door. Mokuba is on the right.” 

“Thanks.” Yugi opened the door to the guest room. He caught the little stumble in Atem’s sentence and if Atem’s use of Kaiba’s first name was any indication, he probably didn’t want to visit either of them in their room. Or at least not without knocking first. With a sigh, he dropped his backpack on the bed and pulled out the folder he had prepared yesterday before turning back to Atem. “I’m ready for the kitchen.” Atem nodded and led him back to the main hall before stopping for a few moments in confusion, then turning left, then right, then back around. 

“Sorry, I don’t visit the kitchen often. Or at least not the one you’re gonna use.” Oh no there was more than one kitchen. Yugi hoped he would find the right one next time he had to go to the kitchen by himself. After a few more wrong turns Atem finally opened the door to the biggest kitchen Yugi had ever seen that wasn’t an industrial kitchen. He stepped forward in amazement, admiring the clean steel, opening drawers and cabinet doors only to find polished equipment and tools he could only dream of. 

“It’s so pretty.” He tested each burner of the gas stove with excitement, opened the huge rice cooker to admire its clean insides, lifted every pot and pan experimentally, tossed a spatula back and forth between his hands, checked the sockets, stuck his head inside the oven and almost wept at the spices rack. “Can I live here too?”

Atem laughed. “Maybe if I promise Seto ten duels daily he’ll let you.”

Yugi pulled a face. “Nevermind, I’ll just save enough money to get my own kitchen.”

Atem wheezed. “Yeah, I think more than one duel would be too much. But I’m glad to see you like it. Mokuba mentioned something about special ingredients and uh-” He dug around in his pocket and pulled out a small wallet, black and elegant with a silver KC printed on it, “he mentioned you can use this as you please. There’s cash in it and a credit card.” He gave Yugi the wallet. “It was originally just the card but when he heard you like to shop at local markets he put some cash in it too.”

“From Mokuba?” Yugi accepted the wallet with a confused frown. “Not Kaiba?”

Atem shrugged. “He seemed really excited. And Seto just pretends he doesn’t care.” Yugi pocketed the wallet. 

“That’s nice of him.” Yugi had no qualms wasting Kaiba’s money splurging on ingredients. “I’ll thank him when I meet him later.”

“Alright. I’ll leave you to cook now. Or do you want me to stay?”   


Yugi thought for a moment. “No, I work better alone. And you can go back to Seto darling.” He bashed this lashes at Atem while making kissy sounds. 

“I-” Atem’s cheeks grew red. “I never called him that!” Yugi only raised his eyebrows at him. “Look, it’s complicated.” Yugi’s eyebrows wandered higher. “You know what? Fine. I’m sooooo in love with him and dream of kissing him under the moonlight!” Atem turned around to leave. Yugi was positive his face was even redder by now. “I can see you clearly want to be alone so I’m leaving now!” He huffed and closed the kitchen door behind him. Yugi couldn’t suppress a snicker. Looked like Kaiba wasn’t the only tsundere around.

With a deep breath, Yugi internally changed the subject. He was here to cook and cook he would. First was to check the fridge and pantry to see what was already there, then make a shopping list of everything he needed. Then hit the market and specialty stores. Prepare things that needed to rest overnight. But before all that, he still wanted to get to know the kitchen better. Yugi opened a random drawer next to him, surprised to find that it and the one below it were coolers, filled with drinks.

“Neat.” Yugi smiled to himself and moved on. The next drawer seemed ordinary, except for being completely empty. A closer inspection revealed a little switch together with a control knob. Yugi whistled lowly. It was one of those fancy chambres that kept your food and plates warm. The cabinet door below that turned out to be the same thing. Yugi was impressed. It was obvious the kitchen was rather new, meaning Kaiba picked the interior himself. Or perhaps his personal cook did. He wasn’t quite sure, since it was obviously professionally designed to maximize the cooking experience, but it seemed rather unused. The next few drawers turned out to be filled with even more pots and pans of various sizes, Yugi spotted tiny sauciers, square egg roll pans and deep pasta pots. “Super neat.”

The next row of drawers was filled with different cooking utensils, two of them just dedicated to sharp looking polished knives. Yugi was sure he could cut a leaf in two half with just a gentle swipe with any of them. He discovered differently sized whisks, cooking chopsticks, peelers and some weird looking utensils he wasn’t even sure what they were used for. But he was glad for the cooking chopsticks. He was so used to only using knives and chopsticks when cooking, he wasn’t sure if he would have been able to manage without them. Worst case, he would have needed to buy some, or fetch his own from home. How weird would that have been, going home just to fetch cooking chopsticks.

Alright. Yugi was pretty sure he had seen everything, but maybe he’d discover some more secrets the kitchen held while he was cooking. Time to finally check the fridge. Yugi pulled out his folder. He didn’t have a cookbook per se, most recipes he knew by heart, but for some others he went scouring the internet, looking at food blogs and trying to find the recipes that felt the most accurate, since he couldn’t read Egyptian, or any language that wasn’t Japanese or English. He printed out the ones he chose and organized them all neatly into a folder to have them ready when he would spend a day preparing them all. Now he scoured the ingredients of each recipe, writing down the ones he most definitely needed to buy and the ones that were most likely in the fridge. When he was done with that, he opened the door to the fridge that was probably twice his size. The fridge was rather empty aside from a few containers and a note.

_ To Yugi _

_ Since you asked about Nii-Sama and my favourite foods, I assumed you’re going to make them. Nii-Sama has a weird taste and I know that foie gras is hard to get, so I made sure to leave some for you from the main kitchen. You also mentioned some other weird food and when I asked the cooks, they had weird ingredients too so I had them imported. The head chef also said tomatoes shouldn’t be put in the fridge, so they’re in the pantry. Everything else I just put in the fridge. If you’re wondering why the fridge is so empty, I thought you’d prefer buying your own ingredients. _

_ Mokuba _

The note ended with a doodle of Mokuba’s head grinning. Yugi smiled. Once you got to know the rascal, he was actually quite nice. And Atem was right, Mokuba sounded really excited about this whole thing. Yugi briefly wondered if the boy had made any friends his age or if he and his friend group were his only friends. It was entirely possible, with how much time Mokuba spent around Kaiba, probably assisting him in weird experiments. Yugi still wasn’t sure if Mokuba’s title of vice CEO of Kaiba Corp. was only for show or not. Afterall, Mokuba was still half a child, but at the same time, he was almost the same age as Kaiba was when he had taken over Kaiba Corp. . Yugi decided to ask about that another time and focus on what was in the fridge for now. He took the ingredient list he made and began crossing out everything that was in the fridge. Some of those things really didn’t belong in a fridge, but it’s not like being in a fridge was harmful for coconut flakes (or at least not that Yugi knew of), unlike tomatoes which lost their taste and grew rather stale when kept in the fridge. Speaking of tomatoes…

Yugi opened the cabinet door next to the fridge. It was the only door that was equally the size of the fridge, so it was only natural to assume it was the pantry. He assumed right. In the middle of almost empty shelves Yugi was faced with a box labelled as “Pomodoro” and below that, in curly letters, “San Marzano”. Yugi was floored. The box was huge, much more than what he needed for Mai’s arrabiata sauce. After pondering about it for a little while, Yugi decided to weigh how many tomatoes he needed for the sauce and then use the rest to make ketchup and dried tomatoes. It wasn’t often that he got to make his own ketchup, but when he did, it was always a treat. Excited about the thought of making his own ketchup, Yugi put back the box of tomatoes and quickly crossed out the last few things in the fridge on his list and wrote a new one. Surprisingly, a lot of the ingredients he thought he had to buy were already there, while the ones he thought he wouldn’t have to buy were missing. Cross-checking his list another time with the recipes he had printed out and making sure he hadn’t missed anything, Yugi was satisfied to discover his shopping list making skills were top notch. Going back to his room to fetch his backpack, Yugi set off to hit the markets.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry I couldn't finish this properly on time. I hope I'm forgiven if I promise lavish cooking descriptions coming soon?


End file.
